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SPC In Focus – A Liturgical Church
By Alan Hager
The word liturgy might sound obscure to some or maybe even have negative connotations to others. If people are familiar with the word, they might think of formal worship services or “high” church rituals that are often associated with Catholic, Orthodox, or Anglican churches. But in fact, liturgy simply refers to structure. It literally means “service” and includes everything that happens in a worship service.
So it could be said that every church, even the most informal and non-structured one, has a liturgy. What is the value then in our describing SPC as being a liturgical church? On the one hand, it means that we recognize and appreciate the fact of being “ordered” in our gathering for worship. That may not sound like much, but it is important to realize that we live in a time when many churches are trying to avoid altogether any semblance of historic traditions related to the church in general and worship in particular. Of course for some churches, appreciating their liturgy means that they are set in it and reluctant to change even the smallest detail for even a short time. SPC is a liturgical church because we value having an ordered worship service, but we are not bound to it in a rigid way. Our liturgy is more like the parameters that guide our worship rather than a set formula we have to repeatedly follow.
Being a liturgical church also means that a church is intentional about the way it structures its worship. At SPC we have both contemporary and traditional worship styles, but each one is a liturgical service. That is because each service intentionally includes important elements of worship. These include offerings, the Lord’s Prayer, direct readings from the Bible (can you believe this is a fading practice in churches?), sacraments, and sermons. Furthermore, both our contemporary and traditional services are liturgical because both have an intentional flow. This flow (liturgy) is shaped by the Bible and the reality of God’s grace. The broad flow or movement of a worship service we see in the Bible begins with praise and adoration of God as we come into His presence and recognize His goodness; it continues with a time of humble confession as worshipers see their need for God’s grace in light of His glory; this portion of worship includes the announcement of God’s grace in the form of assurance and pardon for sin from God; the liturgy continues with a time of hearing God speak to us through scripture readings and the sermon; the flow continues with an opportunity to respond to God’s grace with prayers, offerings, and commitment responses of various kinds, stating our faith in creeds and making and sharing vows of commitment.
This liturgical flow is similar in both our contemporary and traditional services. Music and prayers intersect through all the movements of the worship service as does sharing and congregational interaction. What is important to note is that while music is vitally important to Spirit filled and biblical worship, music is not the liturgy. Music in some traditions, especially in more contemporary services, becomes the source of emotional energy and shapes the flow of the service.
Again, there is clear biblical support for this liturgical order of the service because we see it as the basic pattern of many worship experiences cited in the Bible (Isaiah 6, Deut. 5, 2 Chron. 5-7), but also because it reflects the Gospel message. We are called by God’s grace and we respond in grateful devotion to Him. Bryan Chapell, in his book, Christ-Centered Worship, says that the order of our worship should re-present the gospel and be itself an aspect of God’s mission in the world. May our worship be offered in that spirit to the God of all grace.
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